Up for the cup

Your leader (5 December) is well-meaning, but naive. Despite there being 207 Fifa members, the winners of the 2010 World Cup are utterly predictable. In the 18 World Cups since 1930 there have only been seven winners: Uruguay (2); Italy (4); West Germany (3); Brazil (5); England (1); Argentina (2) and France (1). To find a winner that was neither the host nation nor a previous winner you have to go to 1958, when Brazil triumphed in Sweden. The only countries who might break this sequence this time are Holland (twice finalists) and Spain (European champions). To invite countries such as Somalia, Pakistan or Afghanistan to the world stage to compete against the big boys would only provide international humiliation for them. The minnows already have their World Cup joy in the qualifying rounds. Ask Andorra, San Marino, Malta and the Faroe Islands about the pleasure they have enjoyed tweaking the noses of their betters over the years.